New Game Sound FX Collection

Hi,Here's a new game sound effects library designed for indie game devs, '2000 Game Sound FX Collection'. Huge range of 2000 game sound effects in 30 audio categories. You can find more info here with videos and sound samples -

OK, my review of this product. Keep in mind I only did a test session and haven't used it on a real project.

BuyingPurchasing was painless using PayPal. They ask for full name and email at checkout, but I don't really care about that.

DownloadGood God, the download was slow. I ran multiple download speed tests to see if it was my connection and I was averaging 86.31Mbps. It took me over an hour to download.

FilesWhen unzipped the folder weighs in at 412.9 MB. 32.5 MB of that is a sub-folder containing compressed ogg files. Also included are the license pdf and "Game Audio User Guide". This guide goes over very, very basic audio tasks that every working engineer/producer will know. It's also geared towards Audacity users, so it's obviously a beginner's guide. The license is straightforward and liberal with allowances.

Before I move the folder over to my sfx drive, I back up the original zip then trash everything but the folder containing the wav files.

SearchingI open a session, open a workspace window and find the folder. The category folders are clear and easy to understand. I pick one at random to view the details and audition. The first thing I notice is there is no metadata on any file! This means I have to tag each file myself if I want comprehensive searching. Which equals hours of work.

AuditioningGoing through the well named folders and listening to random tracks, I find they are all synthetic sounding. In and of itself, that's not bad, but this is a product that's marketed as a 'general' library and not a specific one. Personally, I quite like the 'niche' thing going on here, but I think a lot of buyers will be surprised and/or disappointed in it.

SoundsThere's the usual "Same sound pitched down makes two sounds" tomfoolery going on that most all catch-all libraries have, but that's par for the course. Sounds seem tightly edited. Mastering leans towards the normal 'video game high Hz love'. Nothing seems unintentionally distorted or clipped.

My main complaint is everything has so much time-based processing on it that I know it's going to paint me into a corner at some point. Pre-recorded reverbs and delays make sfx unusable on certain (most) projects.

LoopsThis product comes with engine sounds (albeit mostly sci-fi type of engines, but still engines). Everyone knows that these types of complex, moving sounds are a serious pain to loop. I'm glad to say that these sounds loop nicely out of the box. Obviously if you add post processing, that will change.. but that's on you.

LoudnessFiles seem to peak at -1dBfs and are limited like an elephant trying to do a backflip. I can easily attenuate using clip gain, lowering the fader or have the developer do it with code, but the lack of dynamics is yet another thing I fear will paint me into a corner.

FlexibilityAlmost none. With the heavy hand applied to both time-based processing and limiting, you're going to able to quickly tell if a sound will work in your project or not. Since it's also delivered in 16/44.1, file manipulation is going to have constraints.

OverallAt a tad under $40, I'd say it's worth a look. It's not a 'must have' library, but I see it being useful in specific situations.

Basically, if you're looking for your first sfx library, there are more comprehensive and varied ones out there. If you'd like a general synthetic library, you could certainly do much worse at this price point.

It's very easy to buy, no nonsense, no complex menu's, it's very easy.

Sounds:

Well sorted among 30 folders (30 WAV and 30 OGG) you'll be able to find anything from splashes to engines to gunfire. The sound quality is good, but not ideal, you'll still need to edit some audio for better blending if you need to play sounds in sequence or a few at the same time. I'd really like the "VOCAL CUTE" folder to be remastered.

To be honest - 40$ is what it deserves. It's a great package - but you'll need to edit some of the sounds and unless you have a super simple game you'll need more sounds. Still a good starter package for your games and apps.